When it comes to finding a new home, it’s out with the old and in with the older for Thornhill Hospice.
The palliative care residence is moving July 23 from its current site to an historical house known as the Charlton home. But administrators need help from the community to pay for what they say is a necessary relocation with cost-effective benefits in the long run.
“This move provides us with a real home with a warm environment and it elevates our profile in the community and makes us more accessible to the public,” hospice executive director Terry Winston said.
“Having a home of our own will allow us to bring our programs together and offer them more frequently,” administrator of donations Gina Nickolau added.
Because the Charlton home is a heritage site and owned by the City of Vaughan, the hospice pays less rent than at a private residence.
The home has access to a park and receives lawn maintenance and snow removal provided by the city, decreasing the overhead for the cash-strapped hospice.
Twenty per cent of each hospice’s program budget is covered by the provincial government, but that doesn’t cover the cost of moving.
“It is more than we can afford,” Ms Winston said. “If you or anyone else knows of any grants that will underwrite the relocation of a non-profit office, let me know so I can latch on to them,” she said.
Many have stepped up to the plate already.
“We are receiving a lot of donations and, not only cash donations, but new furniture and new appliances.
The response has been encouraging and greatly appreciated,” Ms Nickolau said.
Built in 1861, 220 Charlton St. offers more space for the hospice, inside and out. Staff says it will enhance the environment of palliative care and bereavement programs they’ve offered the community since 1987.
The former Centre Street site, where the hospice operated since 1994, was just two rooms in the basement of a medical building.
The hospice plans to host an open house in the new location sometime next year.
Visit hospicethornhill.org or call 905-764-0656 if you are interested in becoming a volunteer or if you would like to make a donation.